Where Are They Now? The Godfather

Not every Superstar sets their sights on being WWE's version of a gladiator from the get-go, and Charles Wright (a.k.a. Papa Shango, Kama, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather and The Goodfather) is one of those stories where fate played its hand. (PHOTOS)

Following a successful career as a football player at the University of Las Vegas, being a WWE Superstar hadn't even crossed Wright's mind. It was a chance meeting with some ring warriors who were working on Over The Top, a movie starring Sylvester Stallone, while he was behind the bar.

"I was bartending at this club and the guys would come in on their breaks," said Wright. "They told me I should try my hand at wrestling."

At that moment, what would turn out to be quite a colorful in-ring career began to blossom. Wright received his training in New Jersey with the encouragement of his peers, and when he was finished, he found himself being brought into the United States Wrestling Association in Memphis, Tenn., by none other than WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler -- and there, the brawny Superstar hopeful found immediate success.

"After being out in New Jersey, I went down to work down in the mid-south with Jerry Lawler and ended up winning the heavyweight title from him the first night. It was off and running from there and it was fun," Wright remembered.

After a few years with the USWA, Wright got a call from a good friend of his with an opportunity that would lead to him being first introduced to the WWE Universe in 1991.

"I was working overseas at the time when WWE gave me a call," Wright said. "They were doing tryouts and I was told to get down there and I did."

"After that, I became Papa Shango."

Although Papa Shango was his first character — and a bizarre one at that — this would be not the last persona Wright would adapt. Besides the witch doctor, he would also become Kama "The Supreme Fighting Machine," a militant thug named Kama Mustafa in the Nation of Domination, The Godfather and this incarnation's antithesis: The Goodfather, as part of Right to Censor.

Still, while all these personas were memorable, one stands out most in Wright's mind.

"My favorite character was by far The Godfather," he explained. "That was the character closest to really being me."